Ender's Loss
by blind-babbler
Summary: Alternate Universe story: What if Ender hadn't defeated the buggers in the Third Invasion? What if Ender and his Jeesh lost the battle at the buggers' homeworld? What if the buggers decided to strike back?


_Disclaimer: Fan Fiction based on the characters and universe created by Orson Scott Card; aside from the plot of the story, I don't own anything else_

_Background: Alternate Universe, what if Ender hadn't defeated the buggers in the Third Invasion? What if Ender and his Jeesh lost the battle at the buggers' homeworld? What if the buggers decided to strike back?_

_Setting: Dragon Army HQ, somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains_

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Ender's Loss

"It's over, we've lost." Petra cried silently as she slumped down the wall beside Bean.

"It's not over Petra! It's not! It's never over for as long as we still live and breathe! For as long as any one of us can still stand and shout defiantly at a Bugger, this fight will not end!" Bean shouted. Yet at the same time, even he doubted his own words. _Is it really over?_, he thought. _Are we all really just going to die?_

...The year is 5 Post Earthfall. 5 PE: 5 years after the Buggers all but swatted aside the virtually nonexistent Earth Defense Fleet, 5 years after the Buggers landed on Earth and smashed through every single country, 5 years after the last bastion of humanity, the Warsaw Pact, was decimated by the buggers. Now, only a handful of human guerrilla camps remain, and these are slowly being picked off one by one by the Hive Queen's forces. Pushed to the brink of extinction, the last remnants of humanity are fighting tooth and nail to keep their existence. However, hope is slowly fading away in the camps as reports upon reports of defeat are conveyed through the secret channels. The only light of hope left is with Camp Dragon, the guerrilla camp of Ender Wiggin and his Dragon Army.

For 5 years, Ender Wiggin and his Dragon Army have waged their own vendetta against the Buggers. Secretly hoping to redeem themselves from what they perceived as their own failure, each man in the Dragon Army fought as if there were no tomorrow for each of them. But Ender knew this wasn't enough. Ender knew the only way they could defeat the Buggers was to chip away at them until they could somehow unite the guerrilla camps of the world in one final, desperate strike at the heart of the Bugger Colony: The Hive Queen!

Dragon Army knew that if anyone were capable of pulling of that feat, it would be Ender. For this reason, they placed all their wishes, all their dreams of freedom, all their hopes of life on Ender Wiggin. And for this same reason, the candle of humanity's hope was snuffed out instantly the day a retreating Dragon Army watched helplessly as a thousand Buggers descended on Ender Wiggin.

"Do you really think that we stand a chance against the Buggers without Ender? Do you think anybody else has a chance? Do you think mankind has a chance? Look at me Bean and answer me honestly! Without Ender Wiggin, can we win?!" screamed Petra.

"Petra. I can't answer that question. I don't know the answer. But what I can say is this: we can fight. Without Ender, we can still fight. We can fight until we're destroyed! We must! This is the only way that we can have even the slightest chance of helping mankind survive! We can't just roll over and die! Ender sacrificed himself covering our retreat just so that the fight could survive! Would you cause his death to be in vain?!" Bean lashed back at Petra, all but entirely losing his composure.

"Quiet!" hissed a voice from the corner of the HQ.

"No! He hasn't answered my question! He hasn't!" Petra was quickly silenced as a strong hand clamped over her mouth.

"Quiet I said! There are Buggers scaling the mountains... I think they may know we're here!" whispered Dink Meeker into her ear.

"Dink? How many of them?" asked Hot Soup from somewhere beside them.

"How many? I counted at least ten score of them. But there are probably more all around the mountains." replied Dink.

"Two hundred Buggers? Allah help us. Ender, wherever you are, lend us your strength" prayed Alai under his breath.

"Quickly now everyone! Suit up, grab your gear, get ready! Evacuation plan Nova!" motioned Dink to everyone in the HQ. There was a silent flurry of activity as the few dozen members of the Dragon Army camp equipped and readied themselves for the evacuation.

"DRAGON ARMY! WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED! SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY AND WE MIGHT JUST SPARE YOUR LIVES!" suddenly boomed a loud voice from outside the secret HQ.

Bean froze in the middle of holstering his weapon. He stared around the HQ and saw everyone just as bewildered as he. In fact, everyone in the HQ was thinking the same thing: _Since when could the Buggers speak? And if they couldn't... who just did?..._

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End of the Prologue 

I'm sorry I'm new at this kind of thing. So please make some reviews if you don't mind. I need to know what not to do in the future. Thanks


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